This invention relates generally to aircraft engines and, more particularly, to systems and methods for performing maintenance services on aircraft gas turbine engines.
Aircraft engine configurations often change after the engines are designed and before the engines enter production. Changes in design (CID) are common during both the design and production phases of the engine, but are not limited to these phases. After an aircraft engine is put in service, other engine configuration changes may occur. Aircraft engines typically include a plurality of components that are serviced at regular scheduled intervals. To perform servicing during such regular scheduled intervals, often the aircraft engine is disassembled to permit access to the components to be serviced. Such engine disassembly potentially requires that other components be replaced. As a result of frequent component replacements, often the current or xe2x80x9cas flyingxe2x80x9d engine configuration is significantly different than either the xe2x80x9cas designedxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cas producedxe2x80x9d engine configurations.
Maintaining accurate engine maintenance servicing schedules and determining the maintenance services to be performed on the aircraft engine is difficult without knowing the current xe2x80x9cas flyingxe2x80x9d engine configuration and service history of the particular engine. Scheduling is further complicated because numerous potential service providers may routinely perform maintenance servicing. As a result, and before maintenance services may be performed to an aircraft engine, a significant amount of time and labor may be expended disassembling the engine to determine the current engine configuration and thus, determine the replacement and serviceable engine components.
In one embodiment, the present invention provides a method for gas turbine engine maintenance, such as maintenance of aircraft gas turbine engines. The method includes the steps of determining a xe2x80x9cdesiredxe2x80x9d configuration of the aircraft engine, determining an xe2x80x9cas flyingxe2x80x9d configuration of the aircraft engine, and comparing the engine configurations to determine maintenance services to be performed on the aircraft engine. The step of determining the xe2x80x9cas flyingxe2x80x9d configuration can be performed without disassembling the engine.
The xe2x80x9cdesiredxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cas flyingxe2x80x9d configurations can be stored in one or more databases. The xe2x80x9cas flyingxe2x80x9d configuration can be updated as maintenance is performed on the engine. The xe2x80x9cdesiredxe2x80x9d configuration can updated as design changes, maintenance procedures, production changes, and/or airworthiness directives are issued for the engine model. One or both of the configurations can be determined, at least in part, by querying a device associated with engine.
In one embodiment, the xe2x80x9cas flyingxe2x80x9d configuration can be determined, at least in part, by querying bar codes associated with one or more engine components. Alternatively, or in combination with the use of such bar codes, the xe2x80x9cas flyingxe2x80x9d configuration can be determined by querying microchips associated with one or more engine components.
In another embodiment, the present invention provides an engine maintenance system. The engine maintenance system can include a processor which is coupled, such as electronically, to an aircraft engine and programmed with a unique identifier corresponding to the aircraft engine. The processor can be coupled to a client system, which is, in turn, coupled to the engine. The client system is accessible from a server system configured to determine the xe2x80x9cas flyingxe2x80x9d configuration of the engine. The server system can be programmed to query one or more databases to determine the difference between the xe2x80x9cas flyingxe2x80x9d configuration and the xe2x80x9cdesiredxe2x80x9d configuration.
The engine maintenance system can include a communication interface which permits the server system to transmit and receive data from the client system. The communication interface can also permit a ground-based server system to access an airborne client system.